비혼족, 1인가구 증가에 따른 소비트렌드 변화
The percentage of one person households in the country has tripled over the past three decades, from 9 percent in 1990 to near 30 percent as of 2018.
This comes as more choose to put off marriage, and as our Kim Hyesung reports... this phenomenon is also changing the retail landscape.
From pet grooming to pet food...the pet industry in Korea has grown threefold since 2010, reaching 2-point-six billion U.S. dollars last year thanks to the growing number of single-person households.
"Sales have increased by 20 percent each year. Most of our customers are in their 20s and 30s. More than half of them are singles who think of their pets as not just companions but their babies. We provide pickup and hotel services to take care of their pets when they are not home."
"The Number of sports facilities and health clubs have also risen sharply."
According to Statistics Korea, sports facilities, the pet industry, and skin care shops ranked in the top ten lifestyle and living related sectors with the biggest increase in stores between 2014 and 2018.
On the other hand, wedding halls, and marriage counseling services nosedived.
Statistics Korea attributed the change to the rising number of single households which recorded over five million people as of 2018, adding that shoe stores and stationery stores decreased as more young singles in their 20s and 30s shop online instead of going to the actual stores, leading to an increase in mail order businesses.
"People pursuing careers that take longer to establish, you see things like women participating in the labor force at a higher rate, confined spaces where people are living, having a child becomes more troublesome...If you have more single person households, you have more spending on things that make that person happy rather than trying to find a consensus among multiple people."
The latest survey shows only one out of three Koreans aged between 20 and 39 thinks marriage is a must.
I don't think marriage is a must, it requires a lot of sacrifices. There are so many things I want to do in terms of self-development, career building, travelling..."
And with the number of one-person households expected to continue growing, surpassing four-person households' spending by 2030 to become the biggest consumer group in Korea ... more changes in living and life-style sectors are likely to come.
Kim Hyesung, Arirang News.
